"oriental" + "occidental"
a closer look at the words that mean "east" and "west"
2025-04-28 11:42 // updated 2026-03-02 17:39
2 words, meaning "eastern" and "western":
(these have to do with the "rise" and "fall" of the sun!)
oriental ("to do with the eastern part of the world"):
- orient ("the eastern part of the world")
- Latin oriēns ("the east", "sunrise")
- Latin orior ("to get up", "to rise")
- PIE *h3er- ("to move")
- this slowly became *rinnaną in Proto-Germanic
- rinnaną later became run in English
- PIE *h3er- ("to move")
occidental ("to do the western part of the world"):
- occident ("the western part of the world")
- borrowed from Middle French occidental
- Latin occidentem ("the west, "sunset")
- Latin occido ("to go down")
- Latin ob- ("towards") + cadō ("to fall")
- PIE *kh2d- ("to fall")
this likely links with *ḱeh₂d- ("to hate") !